The More of Less. Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own by Joshua Becker

 Joshua Becker  told his little son who was crying that he couldn't spend time with him until he'd finished clearing out his garage.  Then he realised that he was choosing his possessions over his son! This began his journey towards minimalism, a fantastically popular blog      and this book.  This is an excellent book to read for anyone who is interested in decluttering, but 'clutter people' will probably find it all extremely difficult.

There are several advantages of minimalism, according to Becker. These include 'more time, more money, less stress, less distraction' and 'more freedom'.  We often buy stuff in order to seek security, apparently.  It's better to do this by choosing 'loving relationships with other people' instead.  Also, if you spend less time buying things and decluttering, you have more time to achieve your dreams.

 Becker  provides a process to help people start decluttering, by assorting things into specific piles, labelling them and dealing with them in the appropriate way.  He gives tips for getting rid of objects, such as paper, books and gadgets, which are very helpful.  However, booklovers may find some of these suggestions pretty difficult!

The stories of people who experimented with minimalism are the most interesting part of the book, I found.  For example, Courtney was suffering with MS and decided that she needed less stress. She realised that she was buying too many clothes so she chose to use just 33 items of each item of clothing for three months and started the popular Project 333.

This book will certainly help you buy less and start decluttering.  Whether you will become a minimalist or not is another matter...

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."